


The Calm Before the Storm

by Ghostly_Laughter



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Descriptions about the Magic universe, Hopefully enjoyably so, I'm really verbose, Kaladesh, Kissing, Like realllly slow burn, M/M, Planeswalking, Slow Burn, Theros, Very wordy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2018-08-31 10:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8575645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostly_Laughter/pseuds/Ghostly_Laughter
Summary: We pick up after the events of Project Lightning Bug, where Ral Zarek petitions the Guildpact to assist him with learning about the multiverse. The two Planeswalkers begin to hide a blossoming partnership from the rest of Ravnica by meeting on other Planes to..... study. ;) Plenty of silly shenanigans and drama ensue.





	1. A Stolen Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is an ongoing fic with multiple chapters. Stay tuned~ ^^
> 
> EDIT: I made a couple grammatical edits to this just to keep it cleaned up.
> 
> NEWS: Currently working on the newest chapter! 1/9/18
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @ zeleren.tumblr.com

Ral looked out upon Ravnica like a storm cloud hovering suggestively above. Pacing back and forth, he surveyed the many spires and towers forming the Tenth District's jagged and unpredictable landscape from the top of Nivix. Ironically, every bit of it was predictable to him. He knew every peak and crenellation and how to guide his power through and between each structure. Each Guildgate held within its’ domain no possibility he hadn't fathomed. And yet, at the center of the city stood an improbability so great, he could hardly stand to think of it; that sanctum - or armory - from which the Living Guildpact had emerged, Azor's Forum.

Idly sending sparks between his fingers as he perched upon the rooftop, he shivered in the breeze. The air was dry and wintry, perfect for conducting electricity.

Just the thought of Jace Beleren quieting the thunder of Niv-Mizzet the Firemind was enough to send him into a volley of questions in his head. Even the Firemind could not contend with the Guildpact's dominance. Ral Zarek ran his hands through his hair as he thought, the wind catching his white streaked locks and turning them. He remembered how Jace had entered his mind, and the minds of all of the fighting guildmages at the center of the forum. They had been ready to cast the Supreme Verdict and destroy Ravnica through the chaotic vying for dominance. But, Jace’s voice had rung like a bell, clear and determined, through their thoughts, “Become One,” it had chimed. Just like that, their minds had fused, and the fighting ceased. Jace Beleren had controlled their minds, yes, but the unity they experienced had been pure and unexpected. It had saved Ravnica from destruction.

And, it had changed Ral Zarek.

He had wanted nothing more than to defy the Living Guildpact and usurp his power. Yet, now something stopped him. A sudden change in the wind had caused Ral to pause and calculate more carefully what he needed from Jace Beleren. He had decided to defend Beleren, and for a reason he did not entirely understand, he had even lied to his master. What had taken ahold of him? Looking into the reflective glass orbs that were Niv-Mizzet's eyes just a week ago atop Nivix, he had steeled himself against the great dragon. But, deep down he knew that Niv-Mizzet could see the storm churning inside him, and was only waiting for the lightning to strike.  


He watched as drakes whipped by on the breeze, biting at each other's tails and leaving trails of smoke in their wake. Watching them, he suddenly felt very alone. Sitting up and straightening his back, he stretched his arms upward towards the sky.

'It's my nature to be alone,' he thought to himself, a warm puff of air appearing as he exhaled, sighing.

The crackling breeze, ready to catch a spark at any moment, passed over him, and cold air filled his lungs. Drawing his breath in deeply, he flicked a switch on his gauntlet and cranked one of the knobs up a notch. Fixing his gold filigree mask over his nose and mouth, he breathed in deeply once more, and this time, his lungs filled with a sharp, static cluster of energy. Immediately his gaze sharpened like that of a wise Aven, his ears piqued to sounds he previously had tuned out. The surge of electric energy started to snake through his body, reaching it's streamers down his arms and legs. Closing his eyes, he focused inward, where a storm inhabited every cell of his being. He was the eye of the storm, the very center that a massive vortex of energy pooled around and down inward. Just as he couldn't bear the immense pressure a moment longer, he opened his eyes and let out a roar, which was drowned out by a torrent of lightning that stabbed down from the clouds gathered above him. Spiking down like swords falling from the skies, they formed a lattice of light around him in a protective circle. He exhaled, a veil of mist falling around him from the clouds above. 

—

  
Jace gazed out the high, arched window in the hall from which he toiled as Ravnica's Living Guildpact. Out the window, the air seemed electrically charged and dense. Roiling clouds seemed to shift endlessly in the sky above. He wondered if Ravnica's intense weather was natural today, or if this was the result of the Storm Mage's powers as usual.

'If it is the Storm Mage,' he mused, 'he must be in a bad mood this evening.'

The hall was a testament to Azorius sensibility, it's style severe and imposing. It was decided that the seat of the Guildpact should be in the Azorius guild's law keeping halls to give Jace a facade to match his nearly unbelievable title.

'Keeper of all peace in Ravnica,' he thought with a derisive snort,'Azor willing. I can't even stop this weather.'

Even he was reeling from the shock of ascending to such a position in just a few moments of seemingly divine intervention. Azor's forum had venerated him to near god-hood status, and granted him the ability to counter any decisive effort from a power-hungry guild. Beleren could, provided he did not planeswalk away from Ravnica for too long, keep the peace between the diverse factions that always seemed to be at each other's throats. And, yet, a certain guild had continued to pursue dominance right under his nose; The Izzet guild never seemed to stop researching and experimenting to find new ways to irritate Jace personally. Niv-Mizzet had been attempting to expose the phenomenon of planeswalking without knowing it using the particularly clever Storm Mage as head researcher on the project. But, Ral Zarek had sabotaged Project Lightning Bug to protect Jace... and himself. Jace's thoughts lingered on Zarek's face, remembering the odd expression of both distress and relief there as he had entrusted him with the secret that he, too, was a Planeswalker.

Strangely, as he thought on Ral Zarek's face, he found he could remember little details, like how Ral's eyes were a particular shade of white blue that flashed like lightning when he spoke. At that thought, Jace paused and touched his cheek. His face was flushed, and his cheeks warm.

'What the hell,' he thought, trying to cast the feelings aside.

Ever since that night he and Zarek had walked through the dark alleys around the Boros guild together, conversing in secret, the man had popped into his mind from time to time. Ral was the first person who had listened to Jace empathetically in a long time, and that affected him in ways he didn't realize until now. It wasn't the same with Liliana; the dark figment that haunted Jace still. When Liliana listened, it was to gain something from the information; as if she was cataloguing his memories to use later. For what purpose, Jace didn't want to fathom. He had seen what she was able to do with just a few. He was tired of other's seeing him as means to an end. 

Thinking back to the Infinite Consortium, he had so much to atone for... A huge wave of suppression began to wash over the memories of Tezzeret... Liliana... Kallist... Bolas, covering them in a dense feeling of guilt and pain that eroded them and left him feeling empty again. 'It was better to feel empty than guilty', he thought.

Jace didn't want to think about the person he used to be, and the people he used to keep in his company.

Gathering his notes and scrolls from the day, and hastily shuffling piles of ink stained paper together, he prepared to leave. 

—

  
Inside a laboratory full of glass bulbs of all shapes and sizes, and mazes of copper pipes, sat an over-thinking and perplexed Storm Mage. He was absolutely at his wits end with his current project. Rubbing at his temples, he unconsciously generated sparks that made his hair stand on end. His mind couldn't stop turning over the events of the Dragon's Maze and what had followed thereafter, and it was distracting him from his work. He needed to do something about it.

Sitting back in his chair, he clutched a glass jar of steaming hot Khariva to his chest, a delicacy he imported from Kaladesh that was known to wake up the mind and body. He sipped at it, letting the earthy sweet aroma wash over his senses. Normally this scent could tame him in a state of agitation, but he found that still he yearned for a solution. The Living Guildpact was the only other Planeswalker that Zarek knew of, and the only one who knew his secret. He exchanged the jar of hot Khariva for a bulb off his desk and within seconds it had popped from the tension, sprinkling his hand with glass shards. He tipped them into a tall pile of shattered bulbs and stood up decisively. Jace Beleren owed him... well, something! for the secret he kept, and he would take advantage of that fact. He grabbed his finest (slightly lint and debris-ridden, and charred in places) coat and rushed out the door, leaving an experiment sparking dangerously in his wake.  


—

  
The Guildpact was just gathering the last of his things in order to leave for the day when there was a resounding clatter outside his doors. He looked up, confused, and made towards them. When he reached the door and touched the handle, his hand was met with a sharp and powerful shock.  
He yelped in surprise and quickly withdrew his hand.

The door flew open.

Jace used the little clairvoyance he had left after the shock to stumble back just in time to avoid being hit by the door. In the doorway stood the Storm Mage, looking resolute and defiant, albeit a bit frazzled. His hair stood on end in places, like a static-charged sock had been rubbed on his head.

Ral looked Jace up and down.

"Is this is bad time, Guildpact?" He attempted to disguise a hint of amusement behind a stern expression, but Jace knew it was there.

"The door handle…" Jace stammered, "It shocked me!"

"Hm. Mysterious. I wonder why..." mused Zarek, one eyebrow cocked.

He shrugged and proceeded through the foyer towards Jace's arbitration solar.

'How presumptuous can he be?' thought Beleren, shaking off his surprise and attempting to assume an air of authority and importance in response. He shrugged back his shoulders and called out to Zarek once they were in the quietude of his solar, a little louder than necessary.

"What is this about, Storm Mage? I've nearly cleared my head of the day and you come… Well, storming in."

He furrowed his brow and took the opportunity to scan Zarek's body while he was turned away. Ral wore his guild's colors, a rich navy blue striped with ruby reds. He wore thick, loosely fitted pants tucked into high leather and suede boots that were heeled and toed in metal. He had on a brilliant double breasted sapphire vest that appeared soft to the touch, copper buttons shining, with his crimson neck scarf tucked down across his chest like a cravat. The neck scarf was characteristically stained with oil spots and perhaps sweat, a pair of heavy-duty metal goggles hanging down over it with red tinted lenses. This man knew his looks commanded attention, and dressed accordingly. Jace wasted no time taking advantage of that fact.

“I would actually prefer for our conversation to not be overheard, Guildpact," Zarek said in a subdued tone.

He turned to meet Jace's eyes.

"I wanted to remind you about a favor that I performed for you just a short while ago, Beleren," he said, stepping towards Jace.

"Oh, I thought I repaid that favor by saving Ravnica from you," replied Jace, like a cat flicking it's tail.

Ral looked slightly taken aback, if not amused.

"Ah. It seems, however, that you forget that I am _continuing_ to do this favor for you," Ral returned. "In fact I could choose at any moment to stop protecting you." _'Shit, shit, shit,' Ral thought, 'Why am I threatening him right now? This is not how I wanted this conversation to go!'_

Not waiting for any further explanation, Jace plunged his fingers into Zarek's mind to ascertain the reason behind his visit. He didn't feel like being toyed with this afternoon. Didn't feel like arguing any more today. His irises and pupils began to glow a bright white, like lighthouses blinking on. He reached towards Zarek's thoughts - 

-And suddenly his body was electrified with a sensation much like his hand on the door handle. Except, unlike the shock his body received, his whole mind lit up with a burst of raw static charge. Quickly withdrawing his magical reach, he gasped, eyes returning to normal. He doubled over, reeling from the blast of electricity. He wasn't used to that.

Zarek's eyes, however, now glowed an electric blue, and sparks flecked his white-streaked hair.

"Don't you think it's a little rude to enter my mind without…" he rumbled, "my consent?"

"I don't usually need consent," Jace said through gritted teeth.

"Well, that's certainly a habit you'll need to work on around me," Ral admonished, his eyes returning to a light, soft blue, "Because you'll be owing me a bit of your time, Guildpact. Do you think you can make time in your busy schedule?"

He brushed wayward ash off his velveteen vest.

"Now, let's talk civilized, shall we?"

Jace's body tingled as the last of the electricity left his body.

He could make time. 

—

The Living Guildpact had suggested this was a conversation best had outside the gates of Azorius in case being seen talking to the Storm Mage implicated himself. Naturally, Ral Zarek had suggested his own laboratory, which was tucked away in the heart of the Izzet guild, surrounded by inexplicable noises and muffled explosions. Any Izzet guildmember would be too busy wrapped up in their own experimentations to notice the Storm Mage leading a shorter, plainer man through the maze of boilers and machines. At least that's what he hoped. Zarek figured Jace Beleren, the most powerful illusion mage across multiple planes, could produce a simple glamour spell strong enough to trick most prying eyes.

Night began to fall in Ravnica, and several moons in various phases shone down on the bustling megalopolis. Lights all over the Izzet guild flickered on like lightning bugs emerging in swarms. A vast system of spell-fortified glass tubes snaking their way throughout the many laboratories, factories, and private chambers of the Izzet pumped red and blue mana constantly, glowing brightly all the while. The sight was intoxicating. Jace felt the presence of so much raw, flowing mana energizing and awakening him. Electric lights were strung between every archway and through every metallic, echoing passageway, dancing in Jace's vision, and all manner of wild sounds floated from half shattered or charred windows. As they ascended through the separate layers of buildings, built one on top of the other in an intricately stacked pile, Jace could look down upon the entirety of the guild. Some structures were made entirely of glass panes fitted together with metal framework, like alchemical green houses, and he peered inside as they passed above. He shook his head, amused, as he noted an Izzet goblin watching proudly as an automaton finished assembling itself.  
"This guild never sleeps, does it?" asked Jace rhetorically.

"And nor do I, Guildpact," Zarek replied, a touch of giddiness lining his words. "There is always something new to be discovered… Or invented!"

Jace rolled his eyes and followed the Storm Mage up a flight of ornate metal stairs strung with red and blue lights burning brightly in the night. Up and up they climbed, seemingly into the clouds. Jace was panting by the time they reached the top. He clutched at his side, holding onto the railing with one hand. Before them stood Zarek's lab, in a tower which seemed to float above the rest of the guild. It's exterior was a shining, intricate web of metal flourishes, that Jace realized were curved to look like lightning.

"Please, Guildpact, make yourself comfortable," said Zarek, welcoming Jace into his tower with a cocksure little smile.

Ral opened the door to the most intricately arranged chaos Jace had ever seen. Chambers attached to the walls filtered into pipes, which intersected and connected, snaking across the ceiling. They managed to avoid the endless work shelves lined with experimental materials that overflowed from every corner. Huge skylights shone with the twinkling night sky above, one propped open just a bit to allow excess steam to find exit. Ral's work-table was massive and made of smooth, handworked metal that boasted an array of fine tuning instruments built into it. A complicated and seemingly forgotten looking machine whirred and hummed in the middle of the desk, glowing a faint purplish white. Honestly, Jace was impressed. Whatever hot air he thought constituted the majority of Ral's brain was clearly… Well, probably thoughts. Fairly complex thoughts at that.

Inside, Jace could not find a place to sit. Every surface was covered with half-assembled baubles and rare trinkets. Jace spied from afar a Winter Orb resting precariously upon a pile of charred journals and tomes. He shivered, thinking of the last time he had been forced to use one.

—

"So, who has the bigger dragon's hoard, Storm Mage," quipped Jace, "You or Niv-Mizzet?"

Ral began pushing piles off of surfaces and miraculously uncovered a very fine plush seat for Jace.

"We have been embroiled in that conflict for quite some time, Mind Mage," said Zarek solemnly, peeking at Jace as he carefully took a seat.  
He closed the door and made to find a seat as well, but instead took a brief moment to watch Jace as he examined the many trinkets littered about his feet.

Beleren had shed his official Guildpact regalia to assume a less obvious persona and had of course set an illusion upon himself to go undetected. Anyone looking at Jace would see a short, built man with a blond beard and comely nose, perhaps part dwarvish. But upon entering Ral's lab, he had promptly dropped his illusion, as if shaking off a coat and hanging it up on the rack before getting comfortable. His brown hair fell down past his brow, spiky and tousled. He wore dark blue wyvernskin gloves that he was removing unconsciously while peering inquisitively down at various clutter. He was transfixed with Ral's many toys, and Ral was transfixed watching Jace pick them up with long, elegant fingers.

A small glass kettle began shrieking loudly at that moment and Zarek, ran to quiet it, adjusting knobs and kicking a copper tank that gurgled on the ground. Nothing he could do would quiet the kettle and it continued to shriek, so he grabbed it and tossed it out an open window. The distant sound of a goblin crying out in pain floated up towards the window from far below moments later. He leaned against the wall and smoothed out his vest nonchalantly. If you could call that nonchalant.

"So, Beleren," Ral cleared his throat. "The reason I've asked you here—"

"Expecting I will share with you some mysterious insights into planeswalking?" Jace finished, an unreadable expression clinging to his lips.

"—To repay me for—" Ral continued on.

"—Selfishly covering your own ass from Niv-Mizzet's fire," Interrupted Jace again, "while you conveniently seem to help me out?"

This time it was Jace who looked up to meet Ral's eyes with a defiant smirk.

"Do you really think you're that unpredictable?" finished Jace, turning the Winter Orb in his hands.

The Storm Mage faced his metal worktable, which was laden with delicate glass filaments. He picked up a bulb at random and idly stared at the coils, avoiding Jace's glare. It exploded with a tiny storm inside and promptly popped. Ral sighed and brushed the shards into the pile once more. It tortured him that Jace thought his actions were entirely selfish, even though he himself had never considered they could be anything otherwise. An odd sensation tugged at his chest and he turned to face Jace.

"Contrary to whatever you may think, my actions weren't entirely selfish," Ral countered confidently. "I didn't want either of us to be exposed. I figured it would be drastic for the living Guildpact to be caught away from his plane." He faltered slightly.

He made towards a creaky looking chair, then seemed to change his mind, and resolved to merely pace.

_'Does he ever stop moving?' thought Jace. ___

"So, get to the point… Why did you ask me here?" Jace asked directly, growing tired of Zarek's games.

"Well, I wasn't sure there even were others like me, let alone IN Ravnica…” He trailed off momentarily.

Here he faltered… He didn’t want to reveal to Jace that he had actually broken into Jace’s library and read his private journals during his research of the Implicit Maze.

“Uh… Until Project Lightning Bug's findings, that is," he finished awkwardly.

He ran his fingers through his hair, which was mostly jet-black, but marked with lightning bright streaks of white.

Jace sighed exasperatedly.

"As you know, Niv-Mizzet does not yet know of this fact. I thought that withholding certain information from them might grant us an advantageous situation…" Ral finished, with a flourishing gesture of his hand, the other propping his head up.

Just then, a contraption that Jace noticed had been whirring and emitting a small shower of gold sparks steadily since he had arrived, now started popping and hissing erratically. Ral began cursing in a language of numbers and terms that Jace did not understand and ran over to quiet it. The contraption's spinning golden rings began tipping and clashing, and as they did so, a tiny tear seemed to rip in the fabric of reality in the space around the experiment. 

Jace looked from Ral to the machine, sensing that something very dangerous was about to happen.

Not knowing what to do, he thought of planeswalking away, but he didn't want to leave Ral without help. He flailed his hands pointlessly.

The gears had gotten loose, and the rings suddenly collapsed on each other, letting out a burst of potential energy that had been storing with each steady rotation. Jace and Ral were both blown backwards, away from the machine as space and time seemed to contort, rippling and eventually, tearing apart. Ral threw himself in front of Jace to shield him from the blast, grabbing his tunic—

—

Jace awoke to the sound of ocean waves lapping up against the shore and shrill birdcalls in the distance. There was sand in his mouth, and the gritty feeling jarred him awake.

_'What the hell'_ , he thought, pushing himself up and looking around, panicking just a little. _'What was I doing?'_

It seemed he was on a fog-laden beach painted in soft blue and deep, mysterious grey. He looked around slowly, taking in the odd surroundings. The sand was bone white, and a forest loomed nearby. He blinked. For a moment he was completely lost, no memories surfaced and he felt as he did once before, when everything had been taken from him. He felt like a stone cast into an ocean, sinking to the very bottom… But, then, without warning, a brightly colored memory popped into his head, like a bubble, rising to the surface.

_Ral's lab-_

The experiment exploding-

Ral!

Swiveling about, he soon caught sight of Ral lying nearby, his back against the sand, his eyes closed as if sleeping peacefully. His clothing had been singed, and a fine layer of soot coated his face.

Jace hurried over, kicking up sand, and knelt down beside him, peering down into his unconscious face.

_'He could've gotten us both killed! What even was that thing?'_ Jace thought angrily, looking down at the inert mad scientist. _'I should leave him here, planeswalk back to my sanctum, and get this infernal sand out of my shoes.'_

He made to get up, but something stopped him. His thoughts snagged on Ral and he was pulled back, almost involuntarily.

He tried to tear his gaze away from Ral's face, there in the sand. But, he found, he couldn’t.

Jace looked away quickly, then down at the man lying on the ground. He knelt down just a bit closer.

The Storm Mage looked serene, and Jace took a moment to memorize his features. The way his nose had a slight hook to it, and his beard was sprinkled with white hairs, even though he couldn't have been more than three decades old.

He considered what Ral's lips would feel like against his own for just a moment, then immediately pushed the thought away.

"What am I thinking?"he exclaimed to himself quietly, shocked at his own caprice. It suddenly dawned on him how inexplicably attracted he was to Ral, unable to stop his eyes poring over his face as he lay, unaware and silent before him.

Jace lowered his face to Ral's and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth, his cheeks hot and flushed. His lips were met with a dull spark.

Ral's eyes fluttered open, recognition slowly lighting up in his eyes, and mixing, beautifully, with sheer and utter confusion.

In that moment, Jace panicked harder than perhaps ever before, dissipating his physical form in a quantum blip so fast, he didn't even pick a destination.

Ral lay in the sand, blinking repeatedly, questioning whether he was awake or not.

_'What the hell?' he thought, feverishly._

 

_End Chapter 1_


	2. A Storm Gathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an unexpected explosion and kiss, Jace retreats to his manor to... well, cry about his problems until he is forcibly removed from the premises by Lavinia. Ral Zarek is summoned by Niv-Mizzet to get a stern talking to.

**Chapter 2**  
_A Storm Gathers on the Horizon_

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Jace lifted his head in response to the pounding on his chamber door.

Then he promptly covered it with a pillow, submerging himself deeply in his bed sheets. There had been the steady barrage of a determined fist bearing down on it for the past five minutes, and Jace lacked the wherewithal to do anything to stop it.

‘Maybe if I pretend I’m not here, Lavinia will just go away’, thought Jace.

“GUILDPACT! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!!” yelled Lavinia from beyond the door. “What are you hiding from now?!”

Jace rolled over once more, groaning to himself.

Lavinia of the Tenth, deputy of the Guildpact, was very experienced at taking people in for questioning and, best of all, at arresting them. She would arrest Jace if she needed to if it meant getting him out of bed.

Almost unconsciously, he opened a channel between them and entered her mind, listening to her thoughts.  
‘What on Ravnica is going on with him? He is the Guildpact, he should be at his office, like normal…’ Her thought trailed off into an unintelligible weaving together of words, trying to find the right phrases in her mind. ‘Something really bad must have happened for him to be hiding in bed for this long-’

He retreated from her mind carefully.

With this, she continued her pounding, although slightly louder.

Jace had been hiding in his room ever since he had planeswalked back from… well, wherever Ral’s experiment had teleported them. And, he had been avoiding Lavinia especially, for she had a knack for discerning Jace’s mood and, subsequently, the cause of it with her sharp, law-enforcing, Aven-like eyes. It was likely she would be able to coerce the truth out of Jace just by raising an eyebrow.

Prodding at the memory cautiously, he let the feelings, colors and sounds wash over him for the thousandth time… The sound of gentle waves lapping against the shore, of fog muffling birdcalls from far above, and the soft, nearly imperceptible shock as his lips met Ral Zarek’s before making his escape. As often as this memory had replayed in his mind, so too did the thought, ‘Erase it. Forget this happened!’ and the volley between the two was starting to drive Jace a little mad. He had considered removing the memory, but then would be completely unprepared for the inevitable confrontation that the Storm Mage would bring to him.

Rolling back and forth frustrated in bed, he finally acquiesced to the pounding.

“ALL RIGHT, for the love of the Paruns! I’m coming!” shouted Jace, evoking a surprised noise from beyond the door and an abrupt cease of the banging.

Hastily, he got up and threw on his usual regalia. He exchanged his soiled tunic for one that was a slightly darker shade of blue with neat white clasps that were made of bone. Scanning the room for his cloak, he noted that he would need to tidy up before anyone else was allowed in his quarters. His room had fallen into a state of disrepair over the past week or two, as he never seemed to find time to organize it. When he would arrive home at the end of the day, alone and tired, he wanted nothing more than to rest. Jace’s eyes would ache from trying to focus on the many varieties of text he received from various guild representatives. Sometimes he would start to disassociate as he read, and catch himself idly incanting an illusion, no longer absorbing the written words. Lights and sounds would materialize around him as he zoned out, fragments of memories floating aether-like through the air. As soon as he noticed, they would dissipate, like clouds of smoke, and he would try to redirect his attention. Attempting to clean his echoing, spacious manor often yielded a similar result.

Dust coated many surfaces, and a large iron chandelier fixed in the center of his high, beamed ceiling boasted several impressive spider webs. His room had one window that faced out upon an inner courtyard that was rather austere; it was lined with silver and white bushes that grew up the walls with long, reaching vines that ended in tight spirals. Normally, he kept a heavy, deep blue curtain pulled over the window, preferring to light his room with a variety of lanterns he had collected from various planes. It was somewhat of a hobby for him to collect hand-wrought lanterns, and he scattered them about his room. He would place a thick wax candle in each, and delighted himself by casting an illusory blue flame upon each wick, filling his room with a spectral light that danced through the artful glass shapes of each distinct lantern.

Jace spotted his cloak and scooped it off of the floor near his bed. He ran his hands over the wrinkled cloth, smoothing it out with an illusion after leaving it crumpled on the floor all night. As the glow diminished, the cloak was left shiny and bright, like it had been steam cleaned and newly tailored. Darting by the mirror on his way to the door, cloak flashing, he chanced a quick look at himself and immediately doubled back.  
Without thinking, eyes glowing, he intuitively arranged an illusion over his face to clean up the mess he saw there. Typically, this included giving himself cheekbones, removing the bags under his eyes, and downplaying the intense white of his tattoo-like markings, but today he added a few more touches. His eyes had been bloodshot and his hair greasy, and he focused on these as well before leaving. The man who peered back at him was collected, sleek, even. Honestly, he was impressed with the end result.

‘Great!’ he thought cheerily, moving towards the door, ‘My appearance no longer matches my feelings at all! Lavinia will have no idea anything’s wrong.’

He pulled open the door to face Lavinia with the best half-hearted smile he could muster.

Lavinia looked him up and down quickly, assessing.

“Now I know it’s bad. You never care about your appearance this much,” she shook her head. “Am I going to have to skip my meeting for this?”

 

They walked together through the promenade that connected Jace’s residence to Azorius guild territory. It was a beautiful, but imposing covered pathway paved with flat, diamond shaped cobblestones that glimmered in the morning light. As he vacillated between telling Lavinia everything and saying nothing at all, Jace could barely keep his body’s illusion up, which normally required no more than an afterthought.  
Suddenly Lavinia swiveled, cutting off Jace and stopping in front of him.

“Alright, what is going on, Guildpact? You’ve been completely silent this entire walk, and normally I don’t need to come and physically retrieve you.” Her words came out awkward and halting, yet somehow still authoritative. “Is there some matter you are unable to arbitrate by your self?”  
Lavinia had worked alongside Jace since he had been named the Living Guildpact, and had become somewhat of a confidant to him. They worked so closely on all manner of guild disputes that a modicum of trust was essential to their success… and sanity. Since both her and Jace were unable to maintain many social links, considering the scope of their work, their friendship had arisen from necessity of convenience (Although, their personalities often clashed).  
Jace looked down at his feet, embarrassed and at a loss for words.

“Oh, Azor, is this about a girl?” Lavinia’s crystalline sharp eyes cut right into Jace. “Do you… even date people?”

Her gaze turned uncertain.

“No, I don’t!” stammered Jace, a little offended, “I mean- wait. No, this isn’t about a girl, and I have been known to… date people. I guess. In the past.”

He exhaled heavily. His illusion slipped slightly, revealing a flush creeping up his cheeks.

“I just… Made an impulse decision that I now regret, and… I have NO idea what to do or say,” he finished lamely.

Lavinia looked past him, towards the Clerics making their way down the promenade towards where they stood.

“Guildpact, it is my duty to assist in the arbitration of such matters.” She straightened her spine, cleared her throat and raised a sharp, perfectly manicured eyebrow. “I know a fine establishment for mulling over matters of delicacy.”

It was Jace’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

“You seriously would skip your meeting to… Listen to my babbling?” He asked, his inflection pitching upward on the last word in surprise.

Lavinia shrugged, her mouth revealing a hidden smile.

“Well, we are friends,” she admitted.

~

Guildmage Zarek was still amazed by the very strange dream that he had had two days prior. At least, it felt like a dream. But, it wasn’t a dream, was it? The Planesrifter he had been working on had indeed exploded, and its’ remnants were still scattered about his lab in a concentric pattern originating from the place it had been built a week ago. Zarek couldn’t bring himself to reassemble the twisted and charred components. He felt that if he did, he would somehow disrupt the current timeline, and the fact that Jace Beleren had actually stolen a kiss from him would disappear as quickly as the fantastic invention had.

These past two days Ral had been laughing to himself a lot. Suddenly, and without warning, like a summer storm, he would silently start to shake with a small laugh that would turn into a thunderous boom. Then, he would regain his composure, run his hand through his hair and get back to work, shaking his head and letting the last few hisses of laughter subside like steam. He found he was also prone to losing his focus while tinkering on the second iteration of the Planesrifter, making careless errors he would never normally make.  
Ral Zarek simply did not understand why Jace had done it. Apparently, the Guildpact was still human, and had feelings. Ral had been sure that he was the only one stealing glances.

‘I suppose he IS a mindmage…’ thought Ral, genuinely perplexed, as if working through a complicated theorem.

His cheeks reddened.

Had Jace read his mind while they were in his lab together before the explosion? If so…

‘There’s no way…’ Ral reassured himself, ‘I would feel it.’

He stroked his short, white streaked beard with calloused fingers, beginning to pace.

They barely knew each other… Even if they had spoken fairly personally the night that Ral had taken him to spy on the other Planeswalker he had found. He thought back to their conversation and smiled distractedly, recalling how vulnerable Jace had looked while talking about his past… or lack thereof. The thought of this stabbed him in the chest with an unexpected bolt of sadness.

Jace was totally alone on Ravnica…

Perhaps the tone in Jace’s voice that night had been longing for partnership. Or at least for someone he could trust. But, he wasn’t sure he could give that to Jace right now.

He turned back to his work resolutely, his mind overheating.

~

There they sat, Lavinia and Jace, at a Selesnyan tea parlour in the Protected Pass. The Protected Pass connected Azorius territory to the Selesnyan Guildgate, and served to create a buffer between Rakdos and Selesnyan territory… Having the two guilds in a position that allowed them to spit at each other over a gate proved dangerous. Thus, the Protected Pass boasted a massive arboreal tunnel that constantly rained a soft glitter of leaves and pollen from the enclosed canopy. At the feet of these massive trees were small shops carved into their roots that possessed a variety of inter-guild delicacies and specialty items. Among these curiosity shops were weapon smiths showcasing delicately carved Elven longbows, and glittering Boros-crafted jeweled chestplates.

But, even more common were the cafes offering traditional guild cuisine. Lavinia’s favorite was the Selesnyan parlour they relaxed in, Dryadsong, a lesser-known tea shoppe that had a wide variety of Dryad-grown tea. Every serving of tea was lovingly sung a short incantation by a Selesnyan waiter. What the words translated to, now that was another matter entirely. Lavinia reminded Jace to be very patient and respectful while in Dryadsong.

They sat at a small table inside, waiting to be served, and making idle chat.

“I, of course, know several Selesnyan dialects, but some of the songs are so arcane, I just can’t guarantee what exactly they are singing about,” said Lavinia, straining her ears and concentrating.

Giving up, she turned her attention to Jace.

Jace was peering all around the parlour as he sat, taking in the immense amount of naturalistic decoration and attention to minute detail this place seemed to have. The entire ceiling was an interweaving web of branches strewn with beautiful charms made of vines, glass beads and feathers. In some places, crystals sprouted from the branches like leaves, pointing downward at those sitting calmly in the shop sipping their tea. Each table seemed to rise out of the ground naturally and they were the same color wood as the tree growing all around them. The chairs were stumps carved with intertwining, runic markings.

A dryad made their way lithely over to their table. Jace noticed that as they walked, a spectral impression of vines attaching and detaching with each step seemed to surround each of their feet, and a trail of springy-looking lichen and moss was left in each footprint.

“What will it be, Guildpact?” the Dryad intoned melodiously.

Jace jumped at being referred to as the Guildpact. He had been hiding in bed for too long, it seemed.

“Oh, yes! Well – Let’s see. I’ll have…” He faltered. “-Whatever she is having.” He finished, gesturing to Lavinia with a distracted smile.

The dryad turned calmly to face Lavinia.  
“May we please have two Notchsap Infusions with a calming song, please?” She said amicably.

The Dryad nodded and left to prepare their tea. 

“So,” Lavinia turned to face him squarely. “What did you do?”

"Well... You know how you and Teysa have sort of a..." Jace stopped and thought carefully about his choice of words.

Lavinia's face turned a deep shade of pink and she opened her mouth to object, but Jace continued.

"You know... There's tension." He finished exasperatedly, giving her a look.

"Yes, Guildpact, naturally two powerful Guild representatives who tend to have very different outlooks on Guild matters would have a degree of... _tension_... between them," she responded tersely through gritted teeth, lowering her voice.

Jace looked up and met her fierce, embarrassed gaze, then looked away, not sure what to say next.

"Is this about Guidmage Zarek, Jace?" She asked, a look of disbelief beginning to dawn on her face.

"What?!" Jace almost yelled. He quickly lowered his voice as several guests had turned to look over at the noise. "How did you even...? Am I really that obvious?"

He quickly flipped through an archive in his mind that catalogued every interaction that he and Guildmage Zarek had. He narrowed it down to one's that Lavinia could've witnessed, which was merely a handful of Guildhall Assemblies. Zarek had always sat in eyesight of Jace, but too far away to talk to without every other Guild representative being able to overhear them. For this reason Jace had never said much to Zarek after the events of Project Lightning Bug.

"As your right hand, I sit beside you at every Guildhall Assembly meeting since your elevation to Guildpact. Jace, it's pretty obvious that you have a thing for him. You look over towards the Izzet seating area expectantly before every meeting like you're waiting for Azor himself to return." Lavinia folded her hands on the table resolutely. 

The tea was placed before them suddenly by a Dryad whose golden eyes shined like coins cast in a pool of water. 

"Two Notchsap Infusions," they said, placing two delicate cups on the table and bowing before turning to walk away. 

"..." Jace silently cursed himself and took his cup of tea.

"I kissed him, Lavinia," Jace said quietly, into his tea.

"YOU WHAT?!" It was her turn to attract glares.

"Let me explain..."

~

Ral had been napping at his workbench when a loud rap at his door woke him from a disorienting dream involving his teeth.

He dragged himself over to the door and opened it to find a friend waiting impatiently outside. 

"Ral! I have a message from Niv-Mizzet-" the goblin exhaled exasperatedly, catching his breath.

"Wow. Not even a, 'hey, how are you?' or 'Sorry to wake you, buddy'," Ral replied sarcastically, stifling a shuddering yawn and leaning his body against the doorframe lazily.

"Ral... It's serious, I haven't seen Niv-Mizzet like this since- Well, since Jace became the Guildpact, I guess. Yeah, he was pretty pissed when that happened, " the goblin said thoughtfully, scratching his long, gnarled ear. But, then, like a lightbulb going off in his head, he snapped back to attention, "Never mind all that!! You gotta go see Niv-Mizzet, right now, I mean it!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh," replied Ral, clearly underestimating the severity of the message. "I'll go over after I'm done here."

"No... Ral," he pleaded, pulling up his sleeve to show Ral a fresh, blistering burn on his arm. He looked up at him, fear casting a deep shadow into the goblin's black, shining eyes. "He said he would kill you if you don't come immediately."

~

"NIV-MIZZET, you great fiery bastard!!" boomed Guildmage Zarek as he strode into the private chamber of the massive Draconic genius.

From floor to ceiling, the walls were a glittering sapphire blue marble flecked with crimson striations that shone like freshly spilt blood. Tall, arched windows were adorned with cascades of plush red curtains frosted with gemstone encrusted tassels that brushed against the glasslike floor. A massive copper system of gears lined the ceiling, a mechanism that allowed the star shaped rooftop to open up like a great flower. The citizens of Ravnica knew that when that shining metal flower bloomed, it was a good time to stay indoors.

And in his splendor sat Niv-Mizzet, resting upon the glassy floor, unperturbed by Zarek's slight. Glittering scales of ruby and cobalt adorned the massive dragon like ornamental jewels. He rested his head upon folded arms that boasted scales as large as an warrior's chestplate. Long, obsidian talons, filed and deadly scratched the ground where they idled. The dragon's eyes were like pools of molten gold, swirling within two glass orbs; the irises like two obsidian daggers that followed Ral's movements as he entered. 

As Ral came within fifty feet, Niv-Mizzet lifted his head and came to his full height, filling the chamber with his presence, his horned head nearly touching the ceiling. He sat back on his hind legs and regarded the Storm Mage with cold eyes...

"What is the meaning of burning my friend and threatening me, Firemind?" Ral demanded, his eyes flickering with electricity, sparks showering from his gauntlet. He left the resistance settings low, he didn't care if his magic was out of control. He was in no mood for formalities. 

"Ah... Young Mage. Thank you for responding to my... Summons... so quickly. I see you respond well to threats of bodily harm." The dragon's gratingly sharp laughter echoed through the massive hall. "It seems I'll need to employ that type of thinking when I require your presence more often." Niv-Mizzet shifted his weight forward and the great hall shook. He stretched his wings. Ral Zarek thought fast and hard, ' _What do I say to get out of this? I cannot let him best me. He must've discovered the Planesrifter-_ '

Arcs of lightning began to stream haphazardly from Ral's fingers to the floor, snapping as they made contact with the smooth glass.

"I'll make the skies a Rakdos hellstorm to fly through if you ever threaten me again, Firemind." Ral rumbled. "Don't forget who controls the skies you fly in." 

The Firemind's metallic laughter filled the hall once more as he erupted into a roar.

"Feeling defensive, little Mage? Something to hide?" Niv-Mizzet brought his giant head close to Ral's, closing the fifty foot gap in seconds as he craned his long neck forward. His head was several times larger than Ral's body. 

Ral held his ground defiantly, his eyes glowing white hot.

Niv-Mizzet retreated slightly.

"I know of your little secret. Your new friend." Niv-Mizzet rested on his haunches, fixing his golden orbs on Zarek's face. "Did you really think you could conceal the Guildpact in my own territory?"

Ral Zarek drew a breath almost imperceptibly. 

The dragon's voice grew fierce and unyielding, "What business did you have with the Guildpact in your lab?"

~

Lavinia shook her head and tutted, looking Jace up and down.

"So what are you going to do, Jace?" She frowned slightly, amazed at the Guildpact's unbelievably thoughtless decision. He could be so logical and calculating. And then he could also be... A total mess.

"It was completely out of line, I took advantage of the situation... I've totally embarrassed myself and - oh, Krokt what if he tells the Guildhall-" Jace rambled incoherently.

"Jace- Stop." Lavinia put her hand on top of Jace's, then stared at it as if she didn't believe she had done that. She drew her hand away.

"Look, it's been days. He hasn't told anyone. Yet." Jace grimaced. She continued, "You are... underestimating yourself. Yes, what you did was careless and inappropriate. You can't just go around breaking into people's minds all the time and kissing them when they are unconscious. For that you need to apologize. But..." She paused and her eyes flicked up to meet his, a tiny smile forming at the edge of her lips, "...From the way I've seen Guildmage Zarek steal glances at you, he might not want an apology for the kiss."


	3. Thunder Before Lightning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ral Zarek finds out about some new fun ways he could die. Jace tries not to have a nervous breakdown. Lavinia chuckles nervously in the corner. And things just keep happening.

Shifting from one foot to the other with a confidence that was both practiced and entirely fake, Ral regarded Niv-Mizzet coldly.  
"Was I acting under an incorrect assumption when you told me to find out everything I could about the Guildpact?" The words uncoiled from Ral's mouth like a long, intimidating snake.  
At this, Niv-Mizzet paused and assessed Zarek cooly.  
"Hmmm. I see," the Elder Dragon rumbled contemplatively, "you were acting under your own authority to gather information from the Mind Mage for the good of the Guild." ****

The massive dragon began to turn away from Zarek, seemingly now bored with the conversation.  
"The next time you plan on authorizing your own intelligence mission without consulting me first..." His neck arced through the air, his glowing orbs fastening on Ral... "I'll burn you alive where you stand."  
With that, the great dragon swept further down the massive hall, dismissing Zarek with a flick of his tail.  
Ral Zarek stifled a long-suppressed groan.  
This was shaping up to be a very interesting week. 

****

****

~

It had been four days since the.... incident, and Jace Beleren was not coping very well. Submersing himself in paperwork and guild dispute mitigations was only barely concealing the manic self-deprecation that circled about his thoughts, threatening to consume him.  
 _Did Ral hate him?_  
Was he just biding his time before a deadly confrontation presented itself?  
Worst of all... had he disappointed him?  
Maybe Ral Zarek didn't even care and was just moving along with his life as if nothing had happened...  
The vagueness of it all drove Beleren insane with wondering about the potential outcome of each individual situation.  
He had thought through every single option, creating a plan for what he would do in each scenario, telling himself that as long as he had a basic skeleton for what he would say and do, he wouldn't panic so much when the inevitable situation finally presented itself.  
The only outcome he wouldn't allow himself to consider was the possibility of Zarek being pleased with what had happened. The possibility of Zarek returning his.... Whatever they were. His feelings? His affections?  
Jace wasn't even sure what he felt about the Storm Mage anymore after thinking about it so much.  
He was ready to collapse under the weight of his own thoughts as he sat at his sturdy, hand-carved black desk in his arbitration solar. It was a beautiful, golden afternoon, and sunlight filtered in gently from the huge heavy paned window that framed his desk. His head lolled tiredly, his fingers tapping out a morose rhythm on the desk as he attempted to absorb the last of the day's work.  
Suddenly, there came a succinct rapping on his door and he knew without even mind-casting that Lavinia waited on the other side.

"Come in, Lavinia," he called out without looking up, and the large wooden doors creaked open.  
What little color was left in his face drained out as he felt Ral Zarek's presence shadowing Lavinia's.  
Silently he cursed himself in every Ravnican dialect he knew as he attempted to regain a semblance of composure.  
_HOW could I not have felt his presence coming up stairs? Or just beyond my door-_ His inner voice took on a manic tone. 

"I'm sorry for the incredibly short notice, Guildpact, and I know that your workday is coming to an end, but Guildmage Zarek had a matter of utmost importance to speak to you about that I was forced to prioritize." Lavinia's voice was like a well-sharpened blade delicately chopping up her sentence into perfectly bite-sized pieces. Her level of professionalism shamed Jace's aura of complete and utter consternation.

Jace looked up from his desk. His gaze went through Lavinia directly to Ral Zarek.  
The Storm Mage looked oddly... stoic.  
That was unusual.  
Ral Zarek's gaze was cast past Jace, over his head and out the window.  
Their eyes didn't meet. 

Wordlessly, Lavinia shuffled out of the solar, leaving the two men alone. 

 

"Guildpact." Ral Zarek's voice was serious, and rumbled like thunder in the distance. "There is a matter of importance I need you to look over."

Jace had stood up, sat back down, folded his hands on his lap and unfolded them, splaying his fingers out on his knees beneath the desk and out of Zarek's view before he had even began to speak. Now, he attempted to avoid eye contact with Ral by taking out a scroll of fresh parchment and dipping a stray pen in a Chasm Skulker's preserved and bottled black ink, prepared to take down the request. 

The man before him took from his leather satchel a shief of papers held together neatly by coarse red thread, and began to move towards Jace's desk. 

Jace knew that it would be completely disrespectful to mind-cast towards the Storm Mage, yet he desperately wanted to peer into the depths of his thoughts and just _know_ the right thing to do or say. He walked a fine line between communicating like a human being, and manipulating everyone around him like the mind sculptor he was. He needed to do this right.  
_Should I ask him outright what's going on?_  
_Should I apologize to him?_  
A tiny part of him wanted to believe that Ral Zarek was too unconscious at the time to have remembered what happened, and was thus acting unaware of what Jace had done. The kiss he had _stolen_ from him. 

Before he could pull his own head out of his.... head, Zarek had placed the bundle of paper on his desk and began to retreat. 

"Thank you so much for considering this critical proposal, Guildpact. I know that with your guidance, the matter can be settled at once," Zarek's eyes were completely devoid of sarcasm or wit. He seemed sincere. "I've marked the page with the most _integral_ bits of the request for you. Thank you for your time." 

With that, he simply turned, never having met Jace's eyes, and walked out of the office.  
Blinking, Jace sat dumbstruck in his stiff chair, never having replied to a thing Ral had said.

~

 

An entire hour later, Jace was still sitting at his desk, staring down at the neatly tied shief of crisp parchment.  
He had replayed the entire encounter in his head many times, trying in vain to understand what in the name of Rakdos had just happened.  
Eventually, he realized that he should probably read the packet that Ral had brought him. Perhaps that would contain some answers. 

He carefully undid the red cord and put on a small pair of reading spectacles he kept nearby that allowed him to see spectral or hidden inscriptions. Just in case.

On the first page, in mellifluous, calligraphic script read, 'The Accidental Flooding of Sunhome: How Proper Sewage Maintenance Can Fix the Issue'  
Upon reading this, Jace took off the glasses, blinked a couple more times and then laid his head down on his desk, defeated.  
After resting like this for some time, he felt ready to continue dealing with this fresh hell. He plunged into the documents, starting at page one and working through a dense and detailed description of a sewage management problem that had lead to the Boros guildhall, Sunhome, becoming a veritable cesspool. It seemed like Izzet contractors had built an endless system of sewage and water supply pipes which encased the Boros guild, and then neglected to service it for three years. 

Why had Ral personally brought this matter to his attention? Normally much lower level Izzet representatives would deal with an issue like this, even if it was of significant importance. Ready to explode with frustration after hours of devising solutions to the systemic issues that plagued the Boros and Izzet alike, he attached his list of requests and demands and left the Tenth District for the night.


	4. Exactly What They Needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace has a fantasy in the shower.  
> Ral gets exactly what he needs.  
> Again, Lavinia chuckling in the corner.

Jace awoke the next day and dragged himself through the motions of preparing a suitable glamour. Keeping up the complicated illusion was beginning to get more and more tiresome, the more ragged he became. The version of him hiding beneath the glamour was completely different than the shell he tried to maintain. Underneath, his eyes were ringed with a bluish tint, dark circles deepened with each night of unfulfilling sleep. His cheeks were flushed and round, unlike the chiseled, porcelain ones he attempted to sculpt for himself. After trying to tug the glamour across his face multiple times and watching it dejectedly slide off as his thoughts wandered, he finally gave up. He resolved to just show himself for what he was today, even if that meant rejecting a personal audience with anyone who asked. _It was going to be a solitary paperwork type of day_ , he decided. It was almost as if things were back to normal.  
_But, no, it wasn't,_ he reminded himself as he pushed back dark wisps of hair that had fallen down over his eyes.  
From his perspective, Ral Zarek had outright mocked him in his arbitration solar when he left that 'Super Important Document' on his desk yesterday. He wondered if the apparent flooding had even occurred, or if it had all been a joke, with Jace at the center, the unwitting recipient. It wouldn't be the first time his role in a situation was to be the punch line. 

If a glamour illusion wasn't going to cut it, he was forced to take a shower.  
Reluctantly, he took of his soft linen pants and made for the washroom.  
As he let the warm water run over him, he was reminded of the sound of waves, lapping up against a beach.  
The thought of the Storm Mage lying on the sand suddenly popped into his head, unbidden.  
He was a _Mind Mage_ for Azor's sake, he could control what he thought of or didn't.  
But, the memory deepened, regardless, and soon he found himself laying on the sand beside Ral Zarek.  
It wasn't that he couldn't stop the thoughts he was having. He didn't _want_ to stop them.  
Greedily, he soaked in the memory, and started to weave an illusion around himself in the shower.  
His eyes glowed a soft white, and his hand began to find a rhythm.

_He was there, in the sand, beside Zarek, but he was lying with him instead of crouching precariously, like a thief in the night.  
They lay, side by side, and Jace drank in the sight of Ral, so real. He wanted so badly to reach out and touch him. _

He knew it was an illusion that he created, he could make anything he wanted to happen.

_So why did it feel wrong to reach out to him? He lay on his back, head turned to meet Ral's electric blue eyes in the sand, his jet hair moving slightly in the breeze, caressing the bone white sand beneath his head. The corners of his eyes were crinkled with the suggestion of a smile.  
A gentle mist began to fall, and they looked up, surprised. The sky was full, ready to pour down on them. Soon their skin was dappled with tiny droplets of rain, and Ral began to laugh, a deep laugh, soft at first, but building to a rumbling thunder; and Jace was laughing, too. He closed his eyes, letting the feeling of pleasure wash over him._

Opening his eyes, he held himself as his orgasm began to ebb away.

He finished up showering as he erased the memory of what had just happened from his mind, stuttering rushed incantations as he caught his breath.

~ 

He groaned to himself as he prepared to leave his manor, not even halfway prepared to deal with Lavinia's appraisal of the situation. 

He stepped out his front door to meet Lavinia waiting patiently on the dark stone steps of his manor's stoop. Looking up to meet his gaze, her mouth formed a sympathetic smile. 

"I figured you would want to discuss, ah..." She began, uncertainly, "The matter that Guildmage Zarek brought to your attention yesterday."  
"What is there to discuss, Lavinia?" He retorted dejectedly, moving past her slowly towards the Transguild Promenade. "I've been filed under 'Sewage'."

He gently cast out his mind inquisitively to get an impression of Lavinia's general emotional state. He probably could have just looked at her face, but he instead resorted to his more indirect method. Besides, he really didn't like looking people directly in the eye. It made him feel vulnerable in a way that seemed to scatter his thoughts. Right now he needed to focus. She seemed sympathetic towards him, albeit slightly guarded and..... excited? What on Ravnica could she be excited about? In all likelihood, her and Teysa had gotten into some kind of drawn-out discussion about Guild policy. Lavinia genuinely loved discussing the intricacies of inter-guild law, while Teysa just liked contradicting Lavinia for the sake of getting her riled. Jace had seen it transgress many times before the Guild assembly. 

She felt him mind-casting and met his gaze.

"So, I take it you did not properly read the request in it's entirety," Lavinia asked, a hint of very well-controlled giddiness sneaking into her voice.  
"What are you talking about?" Jace responded, swiveling towards her. "Is there something I don't know?"  
"Come on, let's get over to your office." She replied, picking up the pace of her steps.

~

Ral and his much shorter friend strode through the streets of the Guildless territory, casually swinging their arms and chatting amicably as they walked. Beside Guildmage Zarek walked a Goblin, and an impressively long-eared one at that. Boasting a nose that looked as if small objects could easily be sucked into it, and long, spindly fingers, he wasn't the most charismatic creature on the plane. His skin was a pale russet color, speckled with crimson freckles. A patch of raised, scale-like spikes formed a mohawk along the top of their skull, and continued down their spine. To contrast his wild appearance, he had decided to wear a fantastic cloth-of-gold tunic complete with hand-tooled black drakeskin pauldrons and brown suede pantaloons. If there was one thing the two had in common appearance-wise, it was their sense of style. They made a fascinating juxtaposition; a tall,dark-featured, handsome man and a gnarled and soot covered Goblin a third of his size walking together. And yet, they strolled along comfortably, as old friends do, and seemed to complement one another. They had often worked on projects together and over time developed a solid rapport. Similarly, they both detested sharing their findings with those they believed would steal or corrupt their ideas, and thus, occasionally got together to bounce ideas off of one another.  
Even though they were friends, still a slight strain of mistrust ran between them. 

They headed for a small, cleverly concealed shop hidden in Guildless territory that dealt in contraband parts for intricate machines. Complicated weaponry and inventions in need of rare pieces and replacements could be purchased there, and Ral and Kaz had a special deal with the artificier who ran the show. They munched on fried anemones on a stick that they had bought from a street cart several blocks back as the made their way to the parts dealer. 

"So, are you going to tell me why Niv-Mizzet wanted to _kill_ you the other day, Ral?" Kaz snorted, chewing on a piece of gooey anemone. "I should at least know why I now have a scar on my arm". 

Ral's eyes darted down to Kaz defensively. Normally he could trust Kaz with his experiments... but this was different.

"He knows about the Planesrifter Prototypes," Ral lied smoothly, picking bits of crispy anemone out of his teeth with the stick he had eaten them off of.  
"Krokt. Friend," Kaz sucked in a breath. "How did he take that blow to his massive ego?"  
He had told Kaz about his plans for the Planesrifter long ago, and had gleefully shared updates about it's progress ever since prototype number one. He was on number seventeen now. Number sixteen had exploded five days ago, sending him and Jace Beleren to an unknown island... and causing the Mind Mage to rouse him from unconsciousness with a sudden and inexplicable kiss. The thought of it tugged at the corner of his mouth, making him smile. He resisted laughing about it in front of his friend. He couldn't tell a soul in Ravnica. 

"It wasn't good, Kaz." Ral finished abruptly, and Kaz knew that tone meant that further questions were unwelcome.

They rounded a corner and came upon a small, shaded building tucked in an inconspicuous alleyway off the beaten path. A small door, perfect for admitting Kaz-sized patrons marked the shop's facade, complete with boarded up windows that were lightly charred around the edges. A metal sign was unceremoniously tacked above the door which read, 'Spare Parts' in hastily soldered script. Ral Zarek approached the door slowly, turning up the voltage on his gauntlet by one tick. Gently, he drew in a breath, feeling the mana flow from his mizzium generator, through the oscillator, filtering it precisely into the blend he needed, the raw energy vibrating, thrumming and intertwining. The gauntlet upon his right arm grew warm to the touch, and crackled with static charge as his nostrils flared slightly, focusing on _not-overdoing-it_. He guided an arc of lightning underneath the door, spiderwebbing across the floor and up the walls inside, sending currents through every mechanical bauble within the shop. All at once, bells chimed, snaps and clanks were heard and a light could be seen flashing inside the building through cracks in the planks covering the windows. 

"ALRIGHT, SPARKY! ENOUGH!!" A voice boomed from inside, and the scurry of hasty footsteps were heard.

Ral chuckled to himself and Kaz kicked him in the leg. A goblin with a much larger nose than Kaz's swung open the door, an exasperated look contorted his already wild features. 

"How many times do I have to tell you, Sparky, currents are dangerous!" The goblin screeched at Ral Zarek.

"It's good to see you, too, Ikabog." Ral responded amicably.

He then pulled them into a brief hug, clapping his back with a huge, gnarled hand that showed the scars of many failed experiments. They were among fellow scientists, tinkerers, in good company. Glancing up and down the street furtively, the goblin pulled them inside. There were few lights on in the main foyer, casting a mysterious dim glow upon any shining baubles that caught the light peeking in between the wooden slats. Leaving the first room, they walked down a small, claustrophobic hallway that Ral had to crouch down a considerable amount to clamber through. They passed many doors, all of which had locks on them. The trio came to a shining mizzium plated door at the end of the hall. Ikabog unlocked a series of odd shaped and overly convoluted locking mechanisms that adorned the door one by one using all manner of methods. After several minutes of this, they stepped into a well-guarded, dungeon-like room. The ceiling was low, and every inch of the room was covered in shelves which contained carefully organized parts and pieces of machinery ranging from cups of tiny nuts and bolts in unusual shapes, to massive generators, polished to a sheen. As usual, Kaz and Ral barely contained their excitement, salivating over the new imports, their eyes unconsciously beginning to scan the room. Most of these wares were contraband... Rare materials that were brought to Ravnica in secret from other planes like Kaladesh, Fiora and Dominaria by rogue planeswalkers. 

Ikabog approached Ral slowly, gingerly holding an ebony silken pouch held closed by a drawstring adorned with sparkling gemstones. He held it out towards the Storm Mage, his gold flecked eyes sparking like coals in a roaring fireplace. 

"I've procured the item you need to complete the Planesrifter's perpetual mana oscillator." His mouth widened to show yellow, shark-like teeth. 

Ral gently reached inside the pouch and lifted out the nearly weightless gemstone that seemed alive with color. A swirling mixture of pastel colors swam in a silvery metallic sea across the surface of the rare stone.

It was the first time he had ever held a Mox Opal, and he shook his head in amazement. Whomever had found this gem probably had some scars to show for it.

_This is going to cost me some serious coin_ , he thought to himself.


	5. Out of Body Experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ral's hard work pays off.  
> Lavinia's hard work pays off.  
> Jace doesn't do any hard work, but continues to have a hard time.
> 
> NOTE: I know this chapter is super short! I’m sorry about that, it’s because the next chapter is going to be very long. It’s the chapter where ALOT of junk converges! I’m super excited to get it out to you guys and just know that I am working on it right now!!

Back in his laboratory, Ral Zarek’s mind was racing with the possibility of what he had discovered. Overcome with the desire to put the last puzzle piece in its place, he sat down to construct a conduit for the Mox Opal. Thirty odd minutes later, he was wiping sweat off his forehead with his favorite work towel. He always kept it conveniently tied around his neck like a scarf, for moments like this. Arching his back, he tried in vain to correct his posture while he gazed happily down at his new creation; a perfect conducting cage for the shimmering Opal that was made of delicately twisted wires in a pattern that intensified its mana-field. It would hopefully result in the Planesrifter’s mana-field stabilizing, which would create a stasis web around the oscillators, encasing the whole device in a kind of self-contained bubble. This would hopefully result in the ripping apart of eternal ‘Aether’, breaking open a precise tunnel through the eternities… this time not at random. He cast a furtive glance at the broken pieces of the previous prototype.

As a Planeswalker, Ral yearned to explore more than just Ravnica and Kaladesh, the only planes he was familiar with. The Blind Eternities often beckoned to him, tugging at his body’s flow of mana like a massive magnet that loomed in the distance. Sometimes the pull was so great it made him sick to his stomach, leaving him retching on the floor. It was as if his body needed to planeswalk, but his mind acted as an impenetrable wall; the never-ending notion of ‘what-if’ destroying his natural ability to move between planes. Obsessed with maintaining control over his experiments and his own choices, he needed to fully understand the science of planeswalking before he began exploring the multiverse. He had planeswalked to Ravnica and had made a life in the Izzet Guild. On the spice-scented and gilded Kaladesh, he had heard a mysterious tale of a wayward Mage who had attempted to build a ship that moved effortlessly through the Blind Eternities, or the ‘Aether’ as they called it back home. Zarek had become fascinated with researching the mystery of this long lost invention and sought out every bit of information he could grasp in his charred work gloves relating to it. He had compiled a small number of contraband interplanar pieces of technology from Old Mirrodin and New Phyrexia, planes he longed to access one day himself. He poured over the well worn notebooks he had purchased at great expense from Kaladeshi rogue inventors, searching for the answers he needed to understand himself, and his destiny. 

If all went well, the Planesrifter, much like an astrolabe, should provide him with a detailed triangulation of the location of individual planes, according to the position of each ring. He had his charts ready with grids for each ring’s precise output, ready to record. Beads of sweat covered his forehead. 

_This is it_ , he thought, now pacing back and forth before the completed Planesrifter. The seventeenth completed one. 

_I hope this one doesn’t explode_ , he thought to himself nervously, biting his lip and twisting his scarf in his hands like a tress of hair. 

Before him, the improved Planesrifter sat on the table, a gorgeous work of asymmetry, boasting five rings of various sizes and metals which attached to the oblong metallic core via an invisible magnetic field. When touched, the rings would start to spin, crossing over one another in a seamless, hypnotizing pattern. They moved as if finely tuned and oiled, gliding across and through the magnetic field, perfectly balanced at the expense of Ral’s straining mind over the past four days. At the center of the device, he had placed the Mox Opal, attached with a spiderweb of wires and cables that ruined the gilded, smooth appearance of the invention in its entirety, but added to its charm, he thought. No prototype of Ral’s was entirely his without the tell-tale mess of incongruous looking wires and cables. He had fastidiously interwoven them in a beautiful pattern, however, and the pathways of conducting metal met at the top of the core, diving inside to enmesh with the oscillators. A complete maze of other pieces and wires filled the device’s center, ensuring the correct pattern and field of mana-flow as the rings spun. At least, he hoped. 

Leaning forward precariously, he craned his neck over the top of the device, and flipped the switch on the back. It began to hum and vibrate ever so slightly. The Mox Opal seemed to throw shards of glittering iridescent light all about the room like a personal galaxy. He turned to gaze about the room in amazement. Five colors blended together to create speckled clusters of stars projected across his face and hands as he held them up in delight. Flicking the switch on his gauntlet and turning the knob down a tick, he reached out a hand and tapped one of the rings, setting them to spinning. The resulting affect was pleasing to watch, golden rings creating an ever-moving sphere, while light played across and through the spaces in between. 

He clenched his teeth. 

Here comes the part where it usually explodes. 

\---

In the office of the Guildpact, as the morning sun filtered in through the heavy-paned, arched window behind Jace’s desk, two anxious friend’s heads were pressed together over a document discussing the intricacies of a complicated sewage problem. But, they were no longer worrying about the flooding of Sunhome. Upon entering Jace’s office, Lavinia ripped open the scroll (expertly and professionally, as with all things she did), and directed his attention to a notation made in blue ink on the second page in small, spidery lettering at the very bottom. 

_Please see page 72 for ~very important information~_

Lavinia quickly and conspiratorially met Jace’s eyes. 

“Did you not see this last night?” she asked, her eyes glittering, betraying her suppressed excitement. 

Jace stared at the note, written in what happened to be his favorite shade of blue, and felt genuinely confused. He began leafing through the pages until he reached page 72, where he found another message, this time lengthier, but still in the shade of blue that he liked. His eyes poured over the words.

_Please, do not let anyone else see or review these documents, or what I have enclosed on the next page. It is extremely important that this information stay between you and I-_

The room was completely silent, and Jace looked up to find Lavinia, hands folded over her lap sheepishly. 

“Have you already read this?” he asked of her, quietly, barely concealing his emotions, which threatened to bubble to the surface at any moment. He was excited, scared, nervous, and confused all at the same time, and his head ached terribly.

“I merely saw the note on the second page, and as your assistant, wanted to leave the important parts to you, Guildpact,” she sat solemnly beside him.

“So, you’ve read the whole thing, haven’t you?” he cradled his headache in his hands.

She nodded. 

“Don’t tell me, I want to read it for myself!” he exclaimed, turning his attention back to the spidery blue script.

_That being said, you and I cannot meet to discuss the terms of our arrangement on this plane any longer. It is imperative that you join me tomorrow evening when the sun just begins to touch the horizon on another plane._

_I have provided the coordinates on the next page. Take special care not to wrinkle or wet the next page before using it._

_Tomorrow. Sunset. Don’t leave me waiting._

Many sensations were occurring in Jace’s body at that moment, but the most prominent sensation was a strange tingle in his stomach that felt like a tiny fire. Other than that, his head ached terribly, and he was sweating profusely. He carefully turned the crisp, crème colored leaf to find a beautiful matrix of perfectly straight lines drawn on the next page. The lines created an intricate symbol, obviously drawn by a careful and meticulous hand. The symbol belied intense power, and it seemed to emanate a force that drew Jace’s fingers towards it like a jar filled with glittering honey. It was both mathematically precise and somehow arcane looking… and Jace was touching his index finger to the center of the drawing before he could think about it. 

As soon as the miniscule ridges of his fingerprint made contact with the spelled surface, it was as if his mind had been dropped into a richly colored bath of scents, sounds and images that swirled around him. A force lit up his entire body, and his eyes flickered on like lanterns in the darkness, glowing white hot. At once he became familiar with a new plane, a door opening in the Blind Eternities at the end of a path that materialized before his mind’s eye. All he had to do was walk through it. Slowly, his body settled back into itself, his eyes returning to normal, the Eternities fading to reveal the dark stone of his office walls. He came to, crouched on the floor, Lavinia staring down at him looking worried and very impressed. Her sword was drawn, apparently just in case. 

“What in the name of the Paruns… just happened to you?” she asked. 

\---


	6. The Line Between Illusion and Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ral takes his pants off.  
> Jace talks to Emmara.  
> The Gods of Theros have a good laugh.

Walking through a crowded thoroughfare in the heart of Meletis, Ral Zarek was overcome with curiosity and amazement at what he saw before him. Vast coliseums of glistening marble adorned the city of Gods and men, where chimeras glided high above, roaring to the heavens, and below Centaurs cantered besides humans making their way through the bustling marketplace. In the distance, a Centaur whinnied happily and tossed his golden locks away from his face, chatting with a shorter, Meletian man who looked happily up at him. Vendors selling beautiful and strange fruits stood by their carts, assessing each potential customer with a mixture of servitude and suspicion. Ral noticed that almost every other building seemed to be a temple, inlaid with beautiful stone carving boasting symbols that pertained, seemingly to the language of the mystics. Pious Meletians bearing temple incense filled the plaza with a wafting purplish smoke that carried a strange scent, chanting to the themselves. Children with dark, curly hair ran through the streets laughing. It was similar to Ravnica, but at the same time, completely different. Colorful, lush vines overflowing with sweet smelling flowers snaked their way up marble columns. Tall trees bowed under the sun God’s rays, basking in the glow, surrounded by a warm, clear sky.

_‘I’ve done it’,_ he thought to himself triumphantly. _’I’ve carefully plotted this location, planned to arrive here, and have utilized the Planesrifter to place me exactly where I wanted to go.’_

He began to take stock of his surroundings the way he might assess a newly acquired tool or part, looking over its minute details. His mind always seemed to go to categorizing and quantifying; part of his training as an Izzet Guildmage and artificier. Before coming to Meletis of Theros, Zarek had meticulously researched (with whatever texts he could get his hands on) the variety of creatures, customs and terrains he should expect from the foreign plane. It was difficult to study other planes, due to the assumption by many that other planes did not exist, but Ral knew several individuals with plenty of material on the matter. He had immersed himself in these texts, absorbing everything that was available in preparation for immersion into another world. 

Back when he was in charge of Project Lightning Bug, he had studied the movement of a certain individual that seemed to be coming and going consistently around the Boros Legion. After he was able to sabotage and end the project with Jace's cooperation, he had continued to track the mystery Planeswalker. He found that the Planeswalker changed routes, apparently in order to avoid being tracked. But, Zarek had changed his approach as well. Employing a new tracking system by bastardizing tech he had created for Project Lightning Bug, he focused his efforts on determining the destination of the mystery Planeswalker. After utilizing an amplification field once more, he was able to collect a sample of the altered makeup of the drizzle surrounding the 'tear' the Planewalker opened. 

He looked a little strange, rushing forward to the place the Planeswalker had been, from his hiding spot, and hastily collecting a sample of the puddle where the man once stood. Back at his lab he was able to categorize the differences between the sample and the typical Ravnican drizzle, and from there endless calculations and further experiments ensued. And that made it all worth it.

He had concluded hopefully that Theros was where the Planeswalker had traveled, and after recording the location via his Planesrifter , he saw that his new data coincided with his previous findings.

A perfect match. 

Catching sight of a street vendor selling strips of dried meats and berrywine, he decided to become familiar with Meletis before Jace arrived. 

Apprehension mixed with excitement coursed through his veins as he walked towards the stands, which caused a few problems for him. Before using the Planesrifter to travel to Theros, he had removed his gauntlet and left it in his lab in order to blend in with the locals of Meletis a little better. Mizzium was not a metal that existed in Theros, and this would raise questions and stares.

_Better to fit in with the locals,_ he thought. 

But, without his gauntlet, he risked his powers getting out of control. The tendency for his powers to surge increased exponentially without it, and the intensity of his emotions could manifest as well... uncontrolled bouts of lightning or rain. Anxiety could worsen the results, and anger... that caused the biggest problem of all. Without his gauntlet, no resistor could mediate the raw strength of the surge, and if Ral didn't let it out of his body, it could fry him to a crisp. As good as it felt for him to release a massive lightning bolt like a scream, it could very likely result in the deaths of many around him. Exhaling deeply, he attempted to find a place of calm in his mind - perhaps a corner that didn't include Beleren. He was hard-pressed to find such a space at the moment. He rubbed at his temples anxiously, sparks rippling where his fingers made contact.

After carefully researching what he could about the current style trends in Meletis, he had acquired some garb that seemed sensible. He wore a loose-fitting, softspun peasant's tunic that was flowy and comfortable, fastened with a Selesnyan brooch that, to him, looked somewhat similar to what someone on Theros might use. His breeches were... nonexistant, opting to wear the loincloth style shorts that many Hoplites wore, accented by strappy lace-up sandals. He thought he looked pretty good. It had taken quite a bit of effort to find these styles of clothing, especially during Wintertime in Ravnica, and they wouldn't be precise, but it would be enough. 

The vendor, a tall dark skinned woman with a cascade of beautiful curls looked him quizzically up and down as he approached. She arched an eyebrow and smiled suggestively, too distracted by him to closely examine the golden coins he offered her in exchange for the food. They were generic looking metal discs he had produced in his workshop. He bid her thanks and sat at a carved stone bench nearby as she looked on, perplexed and delighted.

There he sat, by the vendor's cart, taking in the sights and sounds of a new plane, and taking a bite out of something he had never tasted before.

\---

_'No no no nononono NO!!!!'_ Jace screamed internally at himself as he paced the library of his sanctum. _'I am COMPLETELY unprepared for this.'_

_What am I supposed to do, just Planeswalk onto Theros, and open myself up for anything?_  
_What if he is trying to lure me there and kill me, and usurp my title of Guildpact?_  
_What if he wants revenge for the kiss......?!  
_What if he just wants to talk?__

____

____

One of the multiverse's most powerful (and unstable) mind mages was having a mental breakdown in his library. The towering shelves overflowing with books, cobwebs and scrolls reached from floor to ceiling, encasing him within a maze of literal knowledge at his fingertips. Surrounded by tomes he had collected from the multiverse, there were still no texts that contained information on what he needed help with in sight.

_How am I supposed to deal with the conversation I'm about to have?_ he thought desperately, beginning to weave an illusion around him.

Cyan fragments of light, like crystals reflecting in water began to stream from his fingertips, forming the figure of a woman. The lights danced before him, gradually finding their place and settling in to form a whole image. She shimmered, a spectral blue, then began to glow warmly until she looked completely real, made of flesh and bone. Before him, the visage of Emmara Tandris had appeared, shining and regal, with long flowing white-blond hair falling down past her waist. Her kind eyes looked down towards Jace, lying on the ground. She brought her long, elegant fingers up to her face and covered her mouth, embarassed. She giggled, her signature tinkling bell chime of laughter brightening Jace's mood a little bit. Lithely, she crouched down like a mother towards a child.

"What are you doing down there, silly?" she intoned like a soft wind-chime on the breeze, a hint of laughter hiding in her words.

"Falling apart...." Jace responded, head in his hands, unable now to look at what he had created.

"Well, stop it!" Her cheeks puffed up and she furrowed her brow, waggling an admonishing finger at him. 

"Who did this to you!?" She demanded.

"I did..." he replied pathetically, looking up to meet her eyes. 

The vision before him shifted and glimmered, becoming hazy.

"You erased me. You can erase whatever you like. Just.... make it all.. go.. away." 

Liliana's voice was coming out of Emmara's mouth, her face beginning to contort as she stepped slowly towards him.

A purplish black miasma seemed to leak from the illusion, filling him with dreadful suspense.

Jace quickly snapped his eyes shut and pushed his hands as hard as he could towards the illusion that was spinning out of control. 

"Leave me ALONE!!" he shouted, afraid.

When he opened his eyes, he was alone in the library.

There he laid on the ground for hours as the day gradually waned.

Finally, after watching the light in his library slowly change, he lifted himself off the ground. He resolved to create a disguise for this new plane. Theros.

The sun had begun to descend in the sky, and Jace would need as much time as he could get to put himself back together.

\---

When the sun touched Ravnica's jagged, spire-filled horizon, Jace knew it was time.

He glanced in the mirror by his window one last time and brushed his dark bangs aside. 

Then, his eyes began to glow bright white, and at once he felt his body begin to tingle with the feeling of the air changing, the very makeup of his surroundings transforming completely. The room around him snapped away and before him unraveled countless pathways, ethereal footpaths made of shifting light which he began to walk down. All around him swirled dark aetheric matter that seemed deeper than any waters he could fathom. Suspended within, countless stars, no, memories of places and things, tiny pinpricks of light he could, if only he dared, dive into. As he walked, following the path Ral's sigil made familiar to him, the tiny pinpricks of light and nebulous cloudforms parted to let him pass through, a galaxy swirling around him, so close he could reach out and touch it. At the end of his pathway was a dark passage, a slit that seemed to withhold infinite possibilities behind it. And yet, it held only one. He reached through the darkness and felt his body adjust as the Blind Eternities disappeared behind him, bluish-white spectral smoke heralding his arrival into a wash of colors and sound that enveloped his body and mind. The silence of the Eternities gave way to cacophonous noise, street vendors, distant music and caravan wheels against cobblestones.

\---

His eyes were fixed on the exact location that Ral knew Beleren would appear, between his hands a crackling ball of electricity danced. The street was off the direct thoroughfare, and thus a good place to appear suddenly without a crowd taking notice. The sounds from the plaza filtered onto the side street, only slightly muffled. An emerald green snake winded its way down an arched trellis, camouflaging with the green vines that swirled and curled picturesquely. Suddenly, there was a strange noise like fracturing glass, and with several spectral tendrils whisping off in various directions around him, Jace Beleren, Master Illusionist had appeared in the alleyway. Ral's breath caught in his throat and, forgetting about the static ball of electricity in his hands, dropped his hands to his sides.

\---

Jace's first step onto Theros was met with a static shock, and he jumped in surprise, readying himself for an attack. Whipping his head towards the source of shock, he found Guildmage Zarek staring back at him, a surprised, vulnerable expression on his face. It was there only for a moment, replaced by an amused and easily practiced smirk, which he complimented with a little wave, sparks jumping from his fingers. Jace's jaw dropped, and he stammered slightly.

As he took stock of Ral's bare legs, toga-like shirt and sandals, a flush crept up his cheeks.

_'What the hell?_ ' he thought to himself wildly, clutching at his hood. 

"Glad you could make it!" Theros-edition Ral called out, beckoning him forward with electricity-laced fingers.

"What.... are you wearing?" Jace managed to squeak out.

As he came closer, he noticed Ral's expression changing to complete disbelief.

"Are you just... wearing what you ALWAYS wear, Beleren?" He scoffed, his eyes lingering on Jace's many chest-belts (whatever those were for). "How in all Rakdos am I going to walk through Meletis with you without us being brought to the authorities? Do you seriously just planeswalk without disguising yourself at all?"

The Mind Mage merely looked down at himself and shrugged. He suddenly looked intensely bashful and embarrassed- his cheeks turning an even brighter red than they had been before, gaze cast downwards determinedly.

Just then, taken off guard by the bizarre novelty of the moment, Ral felt icy cold fingers dip into his mind, manically pushing his thoughts this way and that - it felt as if his head had opened up and the contents were spilling out into the air - 

"STOP!" he bellowed, ripping through the mind-fog and roughly pushing Jace up against the stone wall of the alleyway.

One of Ral's hands was pressing Jace's left shoulder against the wall while his other hand braced against the warm stone behind Jace's head. He panted, and mist began to fall around them, dampening their hair.

Jace's eyes were pools of regret, fear, insecurity... all this Ral could see without needing to enter anyone's mind. He held the gaze, lightning blue eyes searching Jace's, angry with him for not -asking- again, but taken off guard by the vulnerability on his face. 

He couldn't help it - his eyes flashed down towards Jace's lips, open slightly as a small, nervous breath escaped as they stood, Ral pinning him against the wall, either reluctant to move or speak. Ral tipped his head toward Jace's, eyes beginning to flutter closed - but abruptly, he stopped and backed away quickly, as if suddenly awakened from a trance. 

They stood about four feet apart, staring down towards their feet, not sure where to go from here.

Jace's face was still a bright red, and he brought his hands up to his chest, fiddling with one of the red metallic pins he liked to adorn his cloak and tunic with. 

"You - cannot - just do that whenever you feel like it," Ral finally intoned, his voice husky and irritated. "Not to me."

Sweeping several loose black tresses back against his head, he looked up to meet Jace's eyes. 

"You can just _ask_ ," he said slowly, "If you want to know what's in my mind."

Muffled sound from the main plaza could be heard in the alleyway and laughter echoed across the stone walls as a group of people approached.

"Come on, let's go somewhere a little more private." Ral cocked his head towards the source of the noise and began walking in the other direction, as if he knew where he was going.

\---

A blue, Ravnican cloak fluttered in the warm breeze as it swept through the streets of Meletis, drawing quizzical looks from residents of Theros who had never seen such a thing. Ahead of the strange, cloaked man walked an attractive Meletian who seemed to strut confidently through the streets as if he had lived there his whole life. He was great at faking things. They walked together, not speaking or looking at one another, but exchanging a thick, tense energy, as if bound by an invisible force. Walking along the River Kheir towards an isolated temple, they stopped in a secluded semi-covered (seemingly) abandoned temple plaza. The sound of bird calls echoed through the canopy above, and a fine, velvety moss covered the temple's colonnade. Jace's footfalls were met by springy, plush undergrowth that made their approach silent, aside from the symphony of the surrounding forest. Guildmage Zarek _fwumped_ down onto a stone bench within the shaded plaza, a gentle rain beginning to fall. Jace gingerly adjusted his hood and looks towards the heavens. 

"I really hope Keranos doesn't notice all this involuntary weather," Zarek said, also shooting a furtive glance towards the sky.

"Can't you... make the rain stop? On Ravnica you control the rain for miles..." Jace hazarded, not meeting his gaze. 

"I took off my gauntlet and left it in my lab," the Storm Mage admitted reluctantly. "I'm not used to this. Being so out of control."

Jace kicked a small stone by his shoe and swung his arms.

"So. Just - ask -." Zarek said pointedly, staring at Jace.

The Mind Mage's face went completely red once more.

"Are you... mad at me?" he said, faltering.

Ral Zarek sighed, "For what?" he asked.

Jace gulped, "For... you know... on the beach? The... the..." He wasn't used to talking to someone like this. When something happened, he used his abilities to determine what the next course of action would be; it was his crutch socially, and without it, the words came painfully. His insecurities were crashing around him. 

He turned away from Ral Zarek, and lifted his hands in the air as they glowed a bright blue-white like the hottest fire imaginable. His face felt hotter than the hottest fire imaginable at that moment. 

Around Jace and Ral's feet, the stones and plush flora transformed into gray-white sand that stretched all around them. The sound of waves began to crash upon the shore, which gently lapped at their feet. The cries of distant Avens shrieked high in the air, piercing every so often through the thick grey clouds. Zarek breathed in sharply, surprised by the sudden change in the environment. He reached out a hand to touch the sand, and raked his fingers through completely real, soft white grains, confused and amazed. The choppy, grey sea stretched out for miles towards the horizon. Upon the shore, lying in the sand 10 feet away from where they stood, two bodies suddenly appeared, unconscious and covered in soot. He recognized himself lying there, and began to realize what was happening. 

The apparition of Jace awoke suddenly, looking around confusedly, and found Ral on the sand. It rushed over to him and angrily looked down into his face, reaching out a hand to shake him awake. But, it stopped itself. The spectral image of Jace, as realistic looking as the original, kneeled closer to the illusion of Zarek's body. It leaned down, and quickly planted a furtive kiss upon his lips, and as quickly as the kiss happened, disappeared in a swirl of blue light.

The illusion around them began to dissolve, melting away like snow falling towards warm ground. Ral Zarek's face was bright red, and he opened and closed his mouth several times, unsure of what to do or say. It felt as though he had relived that moment with Jace, and the emotions it conjured up were no illusion. 

"For that... I am sorry," said Jace with a small voice, still facing away. 


End file.
